Composed and performed by Enya
Lyrics by Roma Ryan
------------------------------------
May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Mornie utúlie (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Mornie utúlie (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
A promise lives within you now
26 February 2007
24 February 2007
AP Article: Report- Israel wants to fly over Iraq
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
Israel opened negotiations to fly through U.S. controlled airspace in Iraq to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a British newspaper reported Saturday. Israel's deputy defense minister denied the claim.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted an unnamed Israeli defense official as saying the talks were aimed at planning for all scenarios, including any future decision to target Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli bombers would need a corridor through U.S.-administered airspace in Iraq to carry out any strikes, the official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Ephraim Sneh, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the report was incorrect. "This is baseless information," Sneh said. "Maybe people like to divert (attention from) the need for immediate economic sanctions (with) stories about imminent Israeli action, which is not on the agenda."
The international community's focus should be on imposing economic sanctions on Iran for defying U.N. Security Council resolutions, he said.
Senior officials of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, the U.S., France, China and Russia — and Germany are meeting Monday for an emergency summit in London to discuss measures against Tehran.
The U.S. and its Western allies insist Iran must suspend uranium enrichment before any negotiations over its nuclear program take place and accused Tehran of using a civilian program as a cover to develop weapons.
Iran, has rejected the condition to suspend enrichment and insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.
20 February 2007
Hillary Clinton sent ME an e-mail!
Hello!
I registered at www.hillaryclinton.com this past week, just out of curiosity to see what would she say about today's cases and today's world. I got this public message from her website.
I am posting it hereunder just for history... Maybe she'd become the next President, and i would say that the President "wrote" me an e-mail once! :)
Just so you know, and for a reason i don't know, i always end up naming my cats "Democrat" names!!! There was Chelsea, Hilary and Nancy. Please note that Hilary is with one L, after Hilary Duff, not Hillary Clinton.
It's a blessing that the Republicans don't have militias in Iraq, otherwise i'd be in biiiiig trouble for naming my feline friends Democrat names!!!
Good night and good luck :)
From : Hillary Rodham Clinton
Reply-To : info@hillaryclinton.com
Sent : Monday, February 19, 2007 11:29 PM
To : -----------------------------
Subject : A roadmap out of Iraq
Dear .....,
Right now, there isn't one of us who isn't thinking about Iraq. That's why I went there recently: to meet with the commanders on the ground, to talk with Iraqi leaders, and to speak to the men and women who are fighting this war so heroically. I came back even more determined to stop the president's escalation of troops into Iraq and to start the redeployment of troops out of Iraq.
So I outlined a plan, and on Friday, I introduced it to Congress as the Iraq Troop Protection and Reduction Act. My plan accomplishes a number of goals. It stops the president's escalation. It protects our troops by making sure they aren't sent to Iraq without all of the equipment and training they need. It puts an end to the blank check for the Iraqi government. It calls for an international conference to bring other countries together to help forge a stable future for Iraq.
Finally, my plan would begin a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. I've been pushing for this for almost two years. For more details about my plan, please watch Friday's HillCast, the first of what I hope will be a regular series of web broadcasts:
The Iraq Troop Protection and Reduction Act is a roadmap out of Iraq. I hope the president takes this road. If he does, he should be able to end the war before he leaves office. But let's not kid ourselves. From everything we've seen, this president is going down a very different path.
He's fighting to escalate the war, not to end it. I know we're at the start of a presidential campaign, but I think all Democrats should be focused on working together to push the president to change course. We have to end this war in a smart way, not a Republican or a Democratic way, but a way that makes us safer and gets our troops home as soon as possible. That's what I'll be fighting for. But let me be clear, if George Bush doesn't end this war before he leaves office, when I'm president, I will. Please watch the HillCast for more details of my plan:
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
18 February 2007
Wikihow.com Article: How to Cope With Losing a Pet
Since we live a lot longer than our pets, it stands to reason that we will, at some time or the other, come face to face with losing them. Whether you know it's coming or it's unexpected, it is a sad and emotional time. Fortunately, there are many ways to cope with the loss.
Steps
Before Your Pet's Death
Accept your pet's fate. If your pet needs to be put down or is coming to the end of its days naturally, at some point you need to come to terms with the fact that everything--human or not--has a time and a place to come, and a time and a place to go. Talk to your vet and ask how much pain your pet is in and if it is worth trying to save him. Based on the vet's assessment and your own judgement, make the decision, with your pet's happiness in mind.
Take pictures of your pet. You will want something to remember him by. Even if he looks sick and miserable, it is very important to take photos, as bittersweet as it may feel. In the future, you may wish to boast about what a wonderful pet you had, and you may want to show people what he or she looked like. Collect anything else you want to remember him by. This includes a favorite toy, a blanket, or a decorative element from a tank or cage.
Spend some time with your pet. Let him know how much you love him, and cherish every moment. Pet him in all his favorite places, and make sure he is comfortable. Talk to him and maybe even sing. Do things that he used to enjoy if you can, like letting him curl up on your lap for hours at a time, giving him plenty of time to roam in the yard, and eating yummy little treats. If there was ever a time to spoil your pet, this is it. At the same time, respect his wishes. If he wants to be left alone, don't violate his comfort. Let him have his way.
Make arrangements as to what you will do with his earthly remains. When preparing for the loss of a pet, you also need to prepare for all the practicalities that follow. They are an absolute nightmare if you're unprepared - and can so add to your grief and stress at the time. You want to ensure you've taken care of all arrangements before hand. You may wish to bury him in your yard with or without a grave marker. You can also have him buried in a cemetery or cremated.
Give family and friends a chance to say goodbye. Before he leaves your home forever, let the people who've enjoyed his presence know that he's not going to be around for much longer. You've been given a chance to say goodbye, and so should they. Assuming your pet feels comfortable with people, getting attention from various sources will make him feel more loved.
After Your Pet's Death
Allow yourself to cry. Bottling up your emotions is not good for you, and you will feel sad forever. Even if you are a boy or an adult, let it out. Forget all that mumbo jumbo that you're not supposed to mourn an animal as much as you would a person. There was a bond that you cherished, and no matter the nature of the bond, it is missed.
Remember your pet. Don't pretend you never had one. Even though it makes you sad, it is best to remember and cherish the memories, not ignore them. It may hurt at worst, but it's the only path to closure, and it's the only way you'll ever be able to remember your time with your pet fondly. This is a good time to make a scrapbook. Include pictures, stories, and notes about your pet.
Go on with life. Although losing a pet is very sad, it is no reason to shut yourself up in your house or go into depression. Your pet has always felt comfort in your comfort, and the sooner you get back on track, the sooner you'll be yourself again.
Tips
Keep in mind that pets are very sensitive to human emotions. If you are miserable, your pets will pick up on it and react to it. Unlike a human being, who will actually benefit from knowing they are going to be missed and that their impending departure causes you a great deal of sorrow, your pet will not understand why you are so sad - they will just feel sad with you - or, may even feel they have done something to upset you. So do try and contain your grief when around your pet.
When preparing for the loss of a pet, involve your entire family, but be prepared for some very different reactions - each one of us suffers in a different way.
Warnings
Be prepared for good days and very, very bad days. The good days will gradually increase and you will be left with the good memories of your pet.
There will be people who think you're odd for caring so much about the death of your pet. Talk with someone who understands.
Don't get a new pet to replace your old pet. Nothing will take his place and it's not fair to compare a new pet to an old one. Every pet is different. Don't start a new relationship with a pet until you've experienced closure with the loss of your previous pet.
Steps
Before Your Pet's Death
Accept your pet's fate. If your pet needs to be put down or is coming to the end of its days naturally, at some point you need to come to terms with the fact that everything--human or not--has a time and a place to come, and a time and a place to go. Talk to your vet and ask how much pain your pet is in and if it is worth trying to save him. Based on the vet's assessment and your own judgement, make the decision, with your pet's happiness in mind.
Take pictures of your pet. You will want something to remember him by. Even if he looks sick and miserable, it is very important to take photos, as bittersweet as it may feel. In the future, you may wish to boast about what a wonderful pet you had, and you may want to show people what he or she looked like. Collect anything else you want to remember him by. This includes a favorite toy, a blanket, or a decorative element from a tank or cage.
Spend some time with your pet. Let him know how much you love him, and cherish every moment. Pet him in all his favorite places, and make sure he is comfortable. Talk to him and maybe even sing. Do things that he used to enjoy if you can, like letting him curl up on your lap for hours at a time, giving him plenty of time to roam in the yard, and eating yummy little treats. If there was ever a time to spoil your pet, this is it. At the same time, respect his wishes. If he wants to be left alone, don't violate his comfort. Let him have his way.
Make arrangements as to what you will do with his earthly remains. When preparing for the loss of a pet, you also need to prepare for all the practicalities that follow. They are an absolute nightmare if you're unprepared - and can so add to your grief and stress at the time. You want to ensure you've taken care of all arrangements before hand. You may wish to bury him in your yard with or without a grave marker. You can also have him buried in a cemetery or cremated.
Give family and friends a chance to say goodbye. Before he leaves your home forever, let the people who've enjoyed his presence know that he's not going to be around for much longer. You've been given a chance to say goodbye, and so should they. Assuming your pet feels comfortable with people, getting attention from various sources will make him feel more loved.
After Your Pet's Death
Allow yourself to cry. Bottling up your emotions is not good for you, and you will feel sad forever. Even if you are a boy or an adult, let it out. Forget all that mumbo jumbo that you're not supposed to mourn an animal as much as you would a person. There was a bond that you cherished, and no matter the nature of the bond, it is missed.
Remember your pet. Don't pretend you never had one. Even though it makes you sad, it is best to remember and cherish the memories, not ignore them. It may hurt at worst, but it's the only path to closure, and it's the only way you'll ever be able to remember your time with your pet fondly. This is a good time to make a scrapbook. Include pictures, stories, and notes about your pet.
Go on with life. Although losing a pet is very sad, it is no reason to shut yourself up in your house or go into depression. Your pet has always felt comfort in your comfort, and the sooner you get back on track, the sooner you'll be yourself again.
Tips
Keep in mind that pets are very sensitive to human emotions. If you are miserable, your pets will pick up on it and react to it. Unlike a human being, who will actually benefit from knowing they are going to be missed and that their impending departure causes you a great deal of sorrow, your pet will not understand why you are so sad - they will just feel sad with you - or, may even feel they have done something to upset you. So do try and contain your grief when around your pet.
When preparing for the loss of a pet, involve your entire family, but be prepared for some very different reactions - each one of us suffers in a different way.
Warnings
Be prepared for good days and very, very bad days. The good days will gradually increase and you will be left with the good memories of your pet.
There will be people who think you're odd for caring so much about the death of your pet. Talk with someone who understands.
Don't get a new pet to replace your old pet. Nothing will take his place and it's not fair to compare a new pet to an old one. Every pet is different. Don't start a new relationship with a pet until you've experienced closure with the loss of your previous pet.
13 February 2007
bayoubuzz.com Article: Baghdad Bombing Still Shaking Iraq
Baghdad Bombing Still Shaking Iraq
Written by: Elaine McKewon
As Iraq marked the first anniversary of the Shiite Golden Mosque bombing in Samarra (according to the Muslim lunar calendar), the landmark event that plunged the country into a bitter and bloody civil war, a series of explosions rocked Baghdad on the Shiite east bank of the Tigris River, killing 97 people and wounding 186.
On Monday at 12.25 p.m. – at the end of a national 15-minute silence called by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to mark the solemn anniversary – the first of two car bombs ripped through the crowded Shorja market in central Baghdad, killing 88 people and wounding 165. One minute later, the second explosion set an eight-story warehouse ablaze and touched off a series of further explosions in a garage filled with cars. In the aftermath, the entire district was enveloped in thick clouds of black smoke that billowed 900 feet into the atmosphere.
About half an hour earlier, a bomb hidden in a bag exploded in the nearby area of Bab al-Sharqi, outside a popular falafel restaurant. Nine people were confirmed dead and 21 injured in that attack.
The bombings shook Baghdad as Prime Minister al-Maliki spoke on Iraqi television and warned that Iraq has no future unless the new US-backed strategy succeeds. As one blast after another sounded in the background, Mr Maliki continued with his address and urged Iraqis to call government hot lines or local police to report insurgents or militants so that the plan has the greatest chance of success.
A number of Iraqis interviewed in Baghdad on Monday told a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor that they hoped the new strategy would restore calm. “I hope this allows troops to capture all the criminals in the Sunni mosques or in the Shiite mosques,” said Feras al-Jabouri, a Sunni who lives in Amariyah, western Baghdad. He said insurgents and militants are easily identifiable to residents and he believes that shell-shocked Iraqis will finally be convinced to turn in the culprits.
Muthena Mohammed, a Shiite who lives in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Bayaa, said he knows exactly who has attacked his house. “They are my neighbors,” he said. “Under the new plan, they should detain these people so that I can go back to my home, go back to my job, to continue my work. If I go back to my home and the terrorists or insurgents or my neighbors are there and I find them, I will kill them because this is a revenge case.”
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, urged followers to refrain from being drawn into the vicious cycle of violence, as he commemorated the anniversary of the Samarra bombing. “We call on the believers as they mark this sad occasion and express their feelings ... to exercise maximum levels of restraint and not to do or say anything which would harm our Sunni brothers who are innocent for what happened and who do not accept it,” said Mr Sistani.
The latest bloodshed comes days after Gen. David Petraeus assumed control as the new US commander in Iraq. He has said that the task of US forces will be to help improve security so that the Iraqi government can resolve its political issues, rebuild the economy and improve basic services. “These tasks are achievable. This mission is doable,” he said.
Gen. Petraeus also warned that Iraq is “doomed to continued violence and civil strife” if American and Iraqi forces do not succeed in the counterinsurgency strategy. “We will have to share the burdens and move forward together,” he said. “If we can do that and if we can help the people of Iraq, the prospects of success are good.”
It is not clear how much progress is being made on political and economic reforms needed to achieve a lasting peace in Iraq. However, Mr al-Maliki’s new willingness to crack down on Shiite militants as well as Sunni insurgents does enhance the ability of troops in the new military strategy to temporarily quell the violence in Baghdad.
“I will apply the law to everyone ... on militias, political parties, on participants in the political process,” he told CNN in a recent interview. “The law rules, and who is on my side in respecting the law and the government's will be an ally and a partner, and who rebels against the law and the government's will be a foe.”
Written by: Elaine McKewon
As Iraq marked the first anniversary of the Shiite Golden Mosque bombing in Samarra (according to the Muslim lunar calendar), the landmark event that plunged the country into a bitter and bloody civil war, a series of explosions rocked Baghdad on the Shiite east bank of the Tigris River, killing 97 people and wounding 186.
On Monday at 12.25 p.m. – at the end of a national 15-minute silence called by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to mark the solemn anniversary – the first of two car bombs ripped through the crowded Shorja market in central Baghdad, killing 88 people and wounding 165. One minute later, the second explosion set an eight-story warehouse ablaze and touched off a series of further explosions in a garage filled with cars. In the aftermath, the entire district was enveloped in thick clouds of black smoke that billowed 900 feet into the atmosphere.
About half an hour earlier, a bomb hidden in a bag exploded in the nearby area of Bab al-Sharqi, outside a popular falafel restaurant. Nine people were confirmed dead and 21 injured in that attack.
The bombings shook Baghdad as Prime Minister al-Maliki spoke on Iraqi television and warned that Iraq has no future unless the new US-backed strategy succeeds. As one blast after another sounded in the background, Mr Maliki continued with his address and urged Iraqis to call government hot lines or local police to report insurgents or militants so that the plan has the greatest chance of success.
A number of Iraqis interviewed in Baghdad on Monday told a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor that they hoped the new strategy would restore calm. “I hope this allows troops to capture all the criminals in the Sunni mosques or in the Shiite mosques,” said Feras al-Jabouri, a Sunni who lives in Amariyah, western Baghdad. He said insurgents and militants are easily identifiable to residents and he believes that shell-shocked Iraqis will finally be convinced to turn in the culprits.
Muthena Mohammed, a Shiite who lives in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Bayaa, said he knows exactly who has attacked his house. “They are my neighbors,” he said. “Under the new plan, they should detain these people so that I can go back to my home, go back to my job, to continue my work. If I go back to my home and the terrorists or insurgents or my neighbors are there and I find them, I will kill them because this is a revenge case.”
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shiite cleric, urged followers to refrain from being drawn into the vicious cycle of violence, as he commemorated the anniversary of the Samarra bombing. “We call on the believers as they mark this sad occasion and express their feelings ... to exercise maximum levels of restraint and not to do or say anything which would harm our Sunni brothers who are innocent for what happened and who do not accept it,” said Mr Sistani.
The latest bloodshed comes days after Gen. David Petraeus assumed control as the new US commander in Iraq. He has said that the task of US forces will be to help improve security so that the Iraqi government can resolve its political issues, rebuild the economy and improve basic services. “These tasks are achievable. This mission is doable,” he said.
Gen. Petraeus also warned that Iraq is “doomed to continued violence and civil strife” if American and Iraqi forces do not succeed in the counterinsurgency strategy. “We will have to share the burdens and move forward together,” he said. “If we can do that and if we can help the people of Iraq, the prospects of success are good.”
It is not clear how much progress is being made on political and economic reforms needed to achieve a lasting peace in Iraq. However, Mr al-Maliki’s new willingness to crack down on Shiite militants as well as Sunni insurgents does enhance the ability of troops in the new military strategy to temporarily quell the violence in Baghdad.
“I will apply the law to everyone ... on militias, political parties, on participants in the political process,” he told CNN in a recent interview. “The law rules, and who is on my side in respecting the law and the government's will be an ally and a partner, and who rebels against the law and the government's will be a foe.”
BBC Article: Iraq unveils new security plans
Iraq says it will close its border crossings with Iran and Syria for three days as part of its new security plan for the capital, Baghdad.
Top commander Lt Gen Abboud Gambar used a live TV address to unveil the plan which also extends the Baghdad curfew.
The US-backed security drive is now being debated in the US Congress.
Gen Gambar is in charge of a plan that will divide Baghdad into 10 security districts in an attempt to drive out insurgents and illegal militias.
Sweeping powers
Thousands of extra US troops are heading to the Iraqi capital to bolster Iraqi forces in the new security "surge".
US President George W Bush is committed to sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, but he faces strong opposition in the Democrat-led Congress.
Gen Gambar, speaking on behalf of the Cabinet and Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, did not say when the border points would close.
Officials told the BBC the curfew in Baghdad would be extended by one hour, starting at 2000 local time (1700 GMT) instead of 2100, and continuing to 0600.
Officials also said that after the 72-hour border closure, the crossing points with Iran would only be partially reopened.
Gen Gambar said the new plan would give him sweeping emergency powers, combining the command of the police and armed forces.
Weapons permits would be restricted to the Iraqi and US military.
Van attack
The BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad says the Iraqis want to be seen taking the lead on the security drive but a lot of questions have been left unanswered and a lot of scepticism remains.
The border move comes amid claims by the US that Iran is supplying militias with sophisticated weapons to attack US troops. Tehran rejects the accusation.
Correspondents say it is unclear how the border closure will be effective as the frontiers are long, porous and often barely guarded.
Violence continued in Iraq on Tuesday despite the new security plans.
A van crammed with explosives detonated near a college in western Baghdad, killing at least 16 people and injuring 45.
The attack is the latest in a string of deadly incidents in Baghdad.
On Monday a series of car bombs in markets in the centre of the capital killed at least 76 people and wounded 164.
11 February 2007
Shepherds & Fire (Translated Version)
Shepherds & Fire
------------------------
Euphrates tastes bitter, wherever its waters flow and go
And the wounded homeland is taken by its wounds to a tomb
Iraq has its tears, its candles
And it’s no secret that Iraq has a secret
Its parts are shattered
Its rivers fight each other
Are we really Arabs,
When we watch the perfidious swords of death kill Iraq?
Are we really Arabs,
When we hear sad news from Iraq?
Laws of war are offense and defense
And that victory is impossible for the perfidious
Destruction continues in this dilemma
Yet, how many a darkness end with the Dawn calls to prayer?
Hear ye! Whose led by greediness to our Iraq,
How could you?
Hear ye! Whose hands are filled with our blood,
We are so many!
Hear ye! Who doesn’t know our names,
We all have the same dark-skinned foreheads
Locusts have woven a gown of poverty
For our Iraq’s people
They came without any evidence,
But peoples have patience
And every strong and oppressor has an end,
Just like darkness, and its certain age
History taught those who read it,
That no oppression would last forever
History learned from those who write it,
That it is written in red letters
Iraq! O, Iraq!
You shining lighthouse of glory
We need a day in our history like the days of Badr war,
To teach those sitting on our chest, that Iraq will be free.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoom
Prince of Dubai, UAE
------------------------
Euphrates tastes bitter, wherever its waters flow and go
And the wounded homeland is taken by its wounds to a tomb
Iraq has its tears, its candles
And it’s no secret that Iraq has a secret
Its parts are shattered
Its rivers fight each other
Are we really Arabs,
When we watch the perfidious swords of death kill Iraq?
Are we really Arabs,
When we hear sad news from Iraq?
Laws of war are offense and defense
And that victory is impossible for the perfidious
Destruction continues in this dilemma
Yet, how many a darkness end with the Dawn calls to prayer?
Hear ye! Whose led by greediness to our Iraq,
How could you?
Hear ye! Whose hands are filled with our blood,
We are so many!
Hear ye! Who doesn’t know our names,
We all have the same dark-skinned foreheads
Locusts have woven a gown of poverty
For our Iraq’s people
They came without any evidence,
But peoples have patience
And every strong and oppressor has an end,
Just like darkness, and its certain age
History taught those who read it,
That no oppression would last forever
History learned from those who write it,
That it is written in red letters
Iraq! O, Iraq!
You shining lighthouse of glory
We need a day in our history like the days of Badr war,
To teach those sitting on our chest, that Iraq will be free.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoom
Prince of Dubai, UAE
Times Online Article: Short tragic life of an Iraqi baby
Asma Ibrahim tells Hala Jaber of her tormented experience giving birth amid Baghdad's anarchy
WHEN I realised I was pregnant within a month of being married last June, I could barely contain my joy. I’m an ordinary young Iraqi woman, aged 26, with commonplace dreams of building a home and family. It seemed last summer that even in Baghdad, such dreams could come true.
My wedding had been different to most in the world. I wore a simple white dress and the closest members of my family came, but no friends. Strangest of all, my husband-to-be Samouel al-Rawi could not be there.
Samouel, who’s 30, was in hiding after receiving a death threat a few days earlier. He worked for a Canadian cargo company transporting goods for the US military, and some Sunni extremists told him that unless he supplied the names of employees and dates of cargoes being moved out of the airport he’d be killed. So hejust stayed in the airport, day and night, for safety.
Luckily the groom doesn’t have to be present at a Muslim wedding so we went ahead without him. But we didn’t feel like celebrating. It’s hard to celebrate in a city where people are afraid of showing happiness for fear of hurting the feelings of others or arousing the suspicions of those who want Iraqis to live in sorrow and darkness.
Finding out that I was pregnant made me forget the lonely weekday nights of waiting to see Samouel at weekends. Suddenly we were making plans and counting the days until our baby was born, determined to give him the most stable life a family can provide in a time of war.
Even so, mundane details that would be taken for granted elsewhere became big issues for us. How would I find a good doctor when most have fled or been driven out? Which hospital would I go to when most have become hunting grounds for militias? How would I cope with the birth without my baby’s father at my side?
I tried to concentrate on the happiness each month’s appointment with the doctor would bring. Hearing the baby’s heartbeat transported me away from the daily bombings to a seemingly brighter future.
Given the relentless pressures, it is perhaps not surprising that I started having small contractions in my seventh month of pregnancy. But I never imagined I would have to give birth like an animal in the forest.
It was eight weeks ago, the night of December 12, and I was alone in my bed when the serious contractions started. I rang my mother and my parents-in-law, who lived nearby, but although they were there in five minutes flat there wasn’t much they could do.
There was a curfew so they couldn’t take me to hospital. They called for an ambulance but were told it wasn’t safe to come to to our district, Amiriya. The police response was the same: “Sorry, we cannot come to your area.”
My brother walked to an Iraqi military checkpoint 10 minutes away, but the soldiers fired warning shots at him.
For two hours I screamed with the pain as my family sobbed with me. I was bleeding heavily by the time I felt my tiny baby slipping out of me. Suddenly there he was, lying on the sitting room floor at the end of the umbilical cord. He was blue and still.
“Please do something, pleasehelp him,” I cried. “I want him to grow up with me.”
My mother and mother-in-law didn’t even go to him. He looked stillborn to them so they concentrated on trying to stop me bleeding to death.
It was only now that someone remembered a surgeon who lived one block away. When he arrived at 4am to shrieks of Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) the couch and carpets were drenched in blood and my son was still on the floor. The surgeon, who’d brought some basic instruments, immediately set about trying to staunch the flow of my blood.
But while everyone else’s attention was focused on me, I kept staring at my son, willing him to live. And then a miracle happened. He seemed to choke for a moment and started crying out loud.
“Oh God, he’s still alive,” I shouted as all eyes turned to the child. “Please save him.”
Still attached to me, he was wrapped in a blanket and at 5am the surgeon decided to drive us through the checkpoints to the hospital in Yarmouk, a Sunni district 20 minutes up the road.
I thought the hospital would be a safe haven for Sunnis like us. Imagine my horror when we were greeted at the entrance by Shi’ite gunmen.
They waved us through but I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay for long.
The umbilical cord was severed at last and my son was placed in an incubator. I looked at him and in my exhaustion I believed for a moment that he was smiling at me and all my anguish faded away.
I had to leave him there. They said it wasn’t a safe place for Sunnis. The nurse gave me a mobile number to call so that I could check my boy was all right. But when I rang the following night he was suffering from jaundice.
I had to see him, however briefly. I went in the morning and found him in a terrible state, struggling to breathe and with little blue bruises all over his body. His blanket, nappy and a bag of clothes we’d brought were missing.
Later, when I rang the nurse to complain, she slammed the phone down on me. But there was another call that evening — the call to tell me my son, Ahmed, had died.
The pain that gripped my heart that night may never go away. I had to phone my husband and he was practical, though I know he must have felt the same. He arranged for a good Shi’ite friend of his to collect our son’s body for us.
The friend found him in the hospital morgue. Our boy was wrapped in a thin white sheet and placed in a small box for his homecoming.
Even then, there was no end to our ordeal. When the time came to bury him, the road to the cemetery was too dangerous. We went to the mosque in Amiriya but the people there wouldn’t take Ahmed. My husband and I thought we’d better put him in our garden, but our families said that wouldn’t be right.
In the end we had no alternative but to bury our little one in a patch of wasteland. We’ve cried about this every day since, thinking that it was perhaps a sin to leave him in such a place.
Last week we abandoned him altogether when we left our country for the safety of Jordan. I’ve had an operation and now I’m left with just my thoughts.
My suffering is multiplied countless times across Iraq every day. The Americans said they came to liberate us. Is this the freedom they promised?
09 February 2007
07 February 2007
AP Article: Prehistoric Romeo and Juliet discovered
Prehistoric Romeo and Juliet discovered
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
They died young and, by the looks of it, in love. Two 5,000-year-old skeletons found locked in an embrace near the city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale "Romeo and Juliet" have sparked theories the remains of a far more ancient love story have been found.
Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons dating back to the late Neolithic period outside Mantua, 25 miles south of Verona, the city of Shakespeare's story of doomed love.
Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, because their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.
"As far as we know, it's unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. "Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging."
Archaeologists digging in the region have found some 30 burial sites, all single, as well as the remains of prosperous villages filled with artifacts made of flint, pottery and animal horns.
Although the Mantua pair strike an unusual and touching pose, archaeologists have found other prehistoric burials in which the dead hold hands or have other contact, said Luca Bondioli, an anthropologist at Rome's National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum.
Bondioli, who was not involved in the Mantua dig, said the find has "more of an emotional than a scientific value." But it does highlight how the relationship people have with each other and with death has not changed much from the period in which humanity first settled in villages, learning to farm the land and tame animals, he said.
"The Neolithic is a very formative period for our society," he said. "It was when the roots of our religious sentiment were formed."
Menotti said the burial was "a ritual, but we have to find out what it means."
Experts might never determine the exact nature of the pair's relationship, but Menotti said she had little doubt it was born of a deep sentiment.
"It was a very emotional discovery," she said. "From thousands of years ago we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love."
The couple's burial site was located Monday during construction work for a factory in the outskirts of Mantua. Alongside the couple, archaeologists found flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife, Menotti said.
Experts will now study the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site's age and how old the two were when they died, she said. The finds will then go on display at Mantua's Archaeological Museum.
Establishing the cause of death could prove almost impossible, unless they were killed by a debilitating disease, a knife or something else that might have left marks on the bones, Menotti said.
The two bodies, which cuddle closely while facing each other on their sides, were probably buried at the same time, an indication of a possible sudden and tragic death, Bondioli said.
He said DNA testing could determine whether the two were related, "but that still leaves other hypotheses; the Romeo and Juliet possibility is just one of many."
06 February 2007
NetworkWorld.com Article: Bugs in Blogger prompt user complaints
Bugs in Blogger prompt user complaints
By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service, 02/05/07
Google's Blogger service has been generating a steady stream of complaints from users this year, including hours-long outages, feature malfunctions and data loss.
The problems are particularly frustrating to users who migrated to the service's new version and expected to benefit from its more solid platform.
Users contacted in recent days via e-mail report a variety of problems, including the disappearance of blog entries, an inability to post comments, failed migrations to the new service, kinks with the RSS feature and unresponsiveness by Google to support requests.
For its part, Google says that most bugs are isolated incidents affecting relatively few people at a time and that Blogger's stability will improve as the migration to the new platform progresses.
"We know how important a service Blogger is to our users, so the highest priority for the Blogger team right now is monitoring the migration to the new platform, listening to feedback from people who've migrated, and tackling as fast as we can the little bugs that inevitably pop up here and there in a new product," says Courtney Hohne, a Google spokeswoman.
This isn't good enough for Chuck Croll, an independent network and security consultant in northern California who hosts several blogs on Blogger including a work-related one called PChuck's Network and another one that tracks Blogger issues. "We were promised a more stable environment with New Blogger. That hasn't been one of the features provided," Croll wrote.
Google began testing this significantly revamped version of the service in August of last year, and removed the beta, or test, label from it in December. The "new" Blogger offers new and enhanced features, and Google says it is built on a more powerful IT platform. The "old" version suffered from serious performance and availability problems the last three months of last year.
In September, Blogger, which is free, ranked as the leading blog hosting and authoring service in the U.S. with 21 million unique visitors, according to comScore Networks.
Google is taking a phased approach to offering users the option to migrate to the new Blogger, precisely to nip bugs at the bud and limit their impact, Hohne says. Yet, the impact to some users has been significant. Kim Meyer, from Greensboro, North Carolina, is on the new version and disappointed with a smattering of bugs that have affected her blog, like photos not loading and an inability by visitors to post comments. "Lately I've been having more problems with the service that I don't think I should be having," wrote Meyer, a Blogger user for almost two years.
Laurie Jackson, who is on the old version, suddenly had archived posts disappear from her blog. She has been trying to get help from Blogger via multiple postings on the Blogger help forum and e-mail messages to the support team. She has received two generic e-mails that repeat information available in the help section of the Blogger site.
"The biggest problem with Blogger is their lack of technical support/user service. Bloggers are largely left to their own devices when it comes to solving some of the problems that crop up from time to time," wrote Jackson, a New Jersey resident, echoing a common complaint. "So right now I am rather annoyed with Blogger for not caring about us."
Michael Brooks, a historian and writer in Toledo, Ohio, publishes several blogs in Blogger, and has had mixed success migrating them to the new service. Two attempts to migrate his main site, for example, have failed, resulting each time in an eight-hour outage. "I am leery of my next attempt," he wrote.
"While Blogger is a free platform, it is prone to outages and frequent errors. Most frustrating is when the site goes down in the middle of publishing a lengthy post, with the result that I have lost work on occasion that cannot be recovered. It is also difficult to get in touch with Blogger techs, and e-mails generally are met with silence," Brooks wrote.
Mary Shelton, from Riverside, Calif., switched her blog to the new platform and is frustrated about the hours-long outages and availability problems she has experienced. "The timing of the outages has been unfortunate, because they were times when that was my free time to add to my blog," she wrote.
Problems reported on the new Blogger have some users feeling reluctant to migrate. "I am on the old version and am afraid to change due to the problems I have seen on the [Blogger] forum," wrote Jens Rosenkrantz Jr., who uses Blogger for his business' blog.
Still, the switch to the new platform has been positive for others who last year were about to give up on Blogger. That is the case of Robert Brinkmann, chair of the Geography Department at the University of South Florida in Tampa, who hosts several personal and work-related blogs on Blogger, including this one. "Generally it has been doing well. I’ve noticed that it goes through periods where it is a bit 'off' but overall it is fine," he wrote.
Others are more tolerant of the bugs. Laurie Kelley of Forsyth, Montana, has encountered problems with photos and comments on her blog but characterizes them as "more frustrating than disruptive" and says Blogger has been working "fairly well" since she started using it in March of last year.
Google is confident that as the migration advances, and eventually ends, the incidence of bugs will diminish significantly, Hohne said. At this point, however, Google doesn't have a specific timetable for wrapping up the migration. It plans to continue doing it slowly and in relatively small groups, because that way, if an unforeseen bug emerges, it will only affect a limited number of users. Hohne declined to say what percentage of users are on the new platform now.
Bugs related to the migration are probably one-time events that, once addressed and solved, will not recur, she said. Overall, the feedback Google has gathered on the new Blogger is overwhelmingly positive, she said.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service, 02/05/07
Google's Blogger service has been generating a steady stream of complaints from users this year, including hours-long outages, feature malfunctions and data loss.
The problems are particularly frustrating to users who migrated to the service's new version and expected to benefit from its more solid platform.
Users contacted in recent days via e-mail report a variety of problems, including the disappearance of blog entries, an inability to post comments, failed migrations to the new service, kinks with the RSS feature and unresponsiveness by Google to support requests.
For its part, Google says that most bugs are isolated incidents affecting relatively few people at a time and that Blogger's stability will improve as the migration to the new platform progresses.
"We know how important a service Blogger is to our users, so the highest priority for the Blogger team right now is monitoring the migration to the new platform, listening to feedback from people who've migrated, and tackling as fast as we can the little bugs that inevitably pop up here and there in a new product," says Courtney Hohne, a Google spokeswoman.
This isn't good enough for Chuck Croll, an independent network and security consultant in northern California who hosts several blogs on Blogger including a work-related one called PChuck's Network and another one that tracks Blogger issues. "We were promised a more stable environment with New Blogger. That hasn't been one of the features provided," Croll wrote.
Google began testing this significantly revamped version of the service in August of last year, and removed the beta, or test, label from it in December. The "new" Blogger offers new and enhanced features, and Google says it is built on a more powerful IT platform. The "old" version suffered from serious performance and availability problems the last three months of last year.
In September, Blogger, which is free, ranked as the leading blog hosting and authoring service in the U.S. with 21 million unique visitors, according to comScore Networks.
Google is taking a phased approach to offering users the option to migrate to the new Blogger, precisely to nip bugs at the bud and limit their impact, Hohne says. Yet, the impact to some users has been significant. Kim Meyer, from Greensboro, North Carolina, is on the new version and disappointed with a smattering of bugs that have affected her blog, like photos not loading and an inability by visitors to post comments. "Lately I've been having more problems with the service that I don't think I should be having," wrote Meyer, a Blogger user for almost two years.
Laurie Jackson, who is on the old version, suddenly had archived posts disappear from her blog. She has been trying to get help from Blogger via multiple postings on the Blogger help forum and e-mail messages to the support team. She has received two generic e-mails that repeat information available in the help section of the Blogger site.
"The biggest problem with Blogger is their lack of technical support/user service. Bloggers are largely left to their own devices when it comes to solving some of the problems that crop up from time to time," wrote Jackson, a New Jersey resident, echoing a common complaint. "So right now I am rather annoyed with Blogger for not caring about us."
Michael Brooks, a historian and writer in Toledo, Ohio, publishes several blogs in Blogger, and has had mixed success migrating them to the new service. Two attempts to migrate his main site, for example, have failed, resulting each time in an eight-hour outage. "I am leery of my next attempt," he wrote.
"While Blogger is a free platform, it is prone to outages and frequent errors. Most frustrating is when the site goes down in the middle of publishing a lengthy post, with the result that I have lost work on occasion that cannot be recovered. It is also difficult to get in touch with Blogger techs, and e-mails generally are met with silence," Brooks wrote.
Mary Shelton, from Riverside, Calif., switched her blog to the new platform and is frustrated about the hours-long outages and availability problems she has experienced. "The timing of the outages has been unfortunate, because they were times when that was my free time to add to my blog," she wrote.
Problems reported on the new Blogger have some users feeling reluctant to migrate. "I am on the old version and am afraid to change due to the problems I have seen on the [Blogger] forum," wrote Jens Rosenkrantz Jr., who uses Blogger for his business' blog.
Still, the switch to the new platform has been positive for others who last year were about to give up on Blogger. That is the case of Robert Brinkmann, chair of the Geography Department at the University of South Florida in Tampa, who hosts several personal and work-related blogs on Blogger, including this one. "Generally it has been doing well. I’ve noticed that it goes through periods where it is a bit 'off' but overall it is fine," he wrote.
Others are more tolerant of the bugs. Laurie Kelley of Forsyth, Montana, has encountered problems with photos and comments on her blog but characterizes them as "more frustrating than disruptive" and says Blogger has been working "fairly well" since she started using it in March of last year.
Google is confident that as the migration advances, and eventually ends, the incidence of bugs will diminish significantly, Hohne said. At this point, however, Google doesn't have a specific timetable for wrapping up the migration. It plans to continue doing it slowly and in relatively small groups, because that way, if an unforeseen bug emerges, it will only affect a limited number of users. Hohne declined to say what percentage of users are on the new platform now.
Bugs related to the migration are probably one-time events that, once addressed and solved, will not recur, she said. Overall, the feedback Google has gathered on the new Blogger is overwhelmingly positive, she said.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
02 February 2007
A Moon Lit Sardines Dinner
Three nights ago, electricity was plain splendid! They gave us national electricity from 8 pm until 11:00 pm, cut it for some 30 minutes, then they brought it back again until 8 am! It was a very exceptional night indeed. The air and water heaters worked for all the time they needed, and the results thereof were very pleasant to say the least. That night was rather windy, and there was some rain in the wee hours of morning. That rain turned into snow showers above the mountains, and, according to some friends, in some parts of Sulaimaniya, too.
In any event, it gave the mountains that surround the city, a beautiful white cover that included even relatively low altitudes. It’s still there as I type.
By noon, and as I was out to lunch, it snowed for some 30 seconds. It was beautiful! I actually saw it clearly for the first time in Amman in Christmas of 2005, but then it was mixed with heavy rain. This time, it was only snow, but alas, for it lasted for such a short time. I managed, nevertheless, to see the little snow crystals fly around, and see them melt on my jacket. It was very nice. You may wonder why on earth is this guy so excited about snow? Don’t forget that I am from a city that rarely gets a -1 C / 30 F all winter and with a horrible 51 C / 125 F in summertime.
Electricity got a bit worse in the two nights that followed. On Tuesday night, they turned the switches off at around 8:30 pm, which is very early in Iraqi standards. If I haven’t mentioned it, Iraqis usually don’t sleep before midnight, that is after watching the news on Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera or Abu Dhabi TV, if (and a big if that is) they had national or generator electricity.
At that night, I was surprised by the early power cut, and didn’t know what to do. I forgot to charge the rechargeable lantern that I have. I didn’t have any candles (it’s not romantic; it’s a necessity in Iraq!), and there was the walking around that needs to be done properly in order not to step on stuff or hit the walls. I managed somewhat well with the light of my mobile phone (O, my pride, my joy, my Nokia N70, moah moah moah!!!).
By around 10 pm, I felt very hungry, so it was time to have dinner. There aren’t many options to be honest, since I can’t use the microwave oven to grill chicken as I used to back in the good ol’ electricity days. I had to make up my mind between Vietnamese tuna and Moroccan sardines. I picked the sardines, simply because the tuna can refused to be opened the nice way, and I didn’t have the proper device to open it. Sardines it is!
But wait! It’s dark! How am I going to open the sardines can without spilling any of the vegetable oil contained therein? The lantern was dead. The cell phone didn’t give that much light. I looked left and right into the darkness of the night. And I suddenly found out that it wasn’t as dark as I thought. There was the moon, full and shiny, in a clear sky with some coldish breeze, but still it wasn’t that cold.
I took the can and went to the roof where it was completely moon lit. I brought a fork, opened the can and started eating under the moon light. A very beautiful, unforgettable view was the one I saw with all these mountains covered with snow, glowing under the moon light. I tried to take photos, but that was unfortunately impossible. I guess it was a moment to be remembered, and not to be documented.
As I was there, on the roof top, I thought: if someone said to me 5 years ago (when visiting Iraqi Kurdistan was impossible and cell phone service was prohibited in Iraq), that I would be eating Moroccan sardines on a Kurdistan roof top, in a moony January 2007 night, surrounded by snowy mountains glowing from afar, with a Finnish mobile phone in my pocket; I wonder what would I have said to that person!!!
Bottom line is: Never say never!
Oh, and try moon lit dinners, they are less costly (and probably as romantic as) candle lit dinners!
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